Thymus Gland

Carothers Estrella Eleanor

Estrella Eleanor Carothers (1883-1957), American cytologist and geneticist whose work focused on the cytological basis of heredity. In "The Mechanism of Mendelian " "Heredity" "," published in 1915 and authored by American geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan, she was identified as a primary researcher...

Huggins Charles Brenton

Charles Brenton Huggins (1901-1997), Canadian-born American surgeon, cancer researcher, and corecipient, with American Peyton Rous, of the 1966 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for revealing the role of hormones in the growth and treatment of cancer.
Huggins was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia...

Richet Charles Robert

Charles Robert Richet (1850-1935), French physiologist and Nobel laureate who identified the immune-system response known as anaphylaxis, or anaphylactic shock. This rare allergic reaction ( "see "Allergy) occurs in some individuals after two or three exposures to a foreign substance, or "allerg...

Chase Mary Agnes Meara

Mary Agnes Meara Chase (1869-1963), American botanist, widely regarded as an expert in agrostology, the study of grasses. Born in Iroquois County, Illinois, Mary Meara grew up in Chicago, where her family moved after her father`s death in 1871.
In 1888 Meara married William I. Chase, a newspaper...

de Duve Christian Rene

Christian Rene de Duve, born in 1917, Belgian biochemist, cell biologist, and winner of the 1974 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his discovery of two specialized structures within the cell: the "lysosome" and the "peroxisome." De Duve shared the prize with cell biologists George Emil ...

Christiane Nusslein-Volhard

Christiane Nsslein-Volhard, born in 1942, German geneticist and Nobel Prize winner, born in Magdeburg, Germany. She received her Ph.D. degree from the University of Tbingen, Germany in 1973. From 1978 to 1980 she teamed up with American geneticist Eric F. Wieschaus at the European Molecular Biolo...

Corneille Heymans

Corneille Heymans (1892-1968), Belgian physiologist, pharmacologist, and Nobel Prize winner who demonstrated how reflexes in the nervous system regulate heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration. Heymans received the 1938 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his discovery of the role the s...

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Thymus Gland

Thymus Gland, endocrine gland that serves an important role in the body`s immune system. It stimulates the development of T (thymus) cells both within the thymus itself and within lymphoid tissue elsewhere in the body. T cells attack foreign substances invading the body. They also exert control over the production of disease-fighting antibodies by other cells of the immune system and influence other protective reactions.

The thymus is found in all vertebrates

The thymus is found in all vertebrates, but its shape and location vary. In humans, the thymus consists of two lobes located in the upper chest immediately behind the top of the breastbone. In reptiles and birds, the thymus usually occurs as two lobular chains strung out along each side of the neck.

The thymus gland consists chiefly of lymphatic

The thymus gland consists chiefly of lymphatic tissue and contains a few small areas of epithelial tissue known as Hassall`s corpuscles. The human thymus gland increases in weight in the first two years of life, and from then until puberty it grows slowly to a weight of about 43 g (about 1.5 oz). After puberty, it shrinks gradually and the lymphatic tissue of the thymus gland is replaced by fat. In the adult human the organ is chiefly composed of fatty tissue. Abnormal enlargement of the thymus or development of tumors of the gland may occur in myasthenia gravis.